1. The Field of the Disclosure
Generally, this disclosure relates to ammunition management in firearms. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to the delivery of ammunition in a tubular shotgun magazine.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Repeating shotguns, such as automatic, semi-automatic, or pump-action varieties, are commonly provided with a tubular magazine to hold ammunition. The ammunition, known as cartridges or shells, is held in a linear fashion and delivered to the firing chamber of the shotgun sequentially. Typically, a shotgun magazine will hold between 6 and 10 shells at a time, depending on length of the magazine and size of the shells. The shells may be loaded manually into the magazine, with the first shell inserted into the tubular magazine being the final shell to be fed into the firing chamber.
The loading process commonly involves the user pressing a shell against the lifter on the underside of the gun, raising the lifter to expose the rear portion of the tubular magazine, and inserting the shell into the magazine. When the user does so, the shell will press against a magazine follower, which, in turn, presses against a magazine spring. The process is repeated, pushing each shell against the rear of the previous shell until the magazine is full. The magazine spring can expand to run the length of the tubular magazine and provides a motive force urging any shells in the magazine toward the rear of the magazine and, ultimately, the firing chamber. The magazine spring acts on the line of shells via the follower. However, the follower may jam within the tubular magazine and thereby cease feeding shells to the firing chamber. A follower is typically a cylindrical body with an outer diameter that substantially matches an interior diameter of a shotgun's tubular magazine. The follower may jam on debris or dirt in the magazine or simply by rotating. Failures of the follower in the rearward direction can prevent the ammunition from reaching the firing chamber, and therefore, prevent the shotgun from firing. Failures of the follower in the forward direction can prevent a user from loading shells into the magazine, rendering the shotgun inoperable.
In particular, this is of concern in law enforcement or “home defense” applications. A failure of a follower in either situation will render the shotgun inoperable and place the user of the firearm at risk. Because of the adverse environment a user experiences during need of the shotgun, reliability of the firearm is paramount. However, the prior art solution is less than ideal. A “performance follower” of the prior art is largely similar to the standard cylindrical follower, but it has an extension extending toward and within the inner diameter of the magazine spring. This extension acts as a guide to ensure the spring and follower stay in alignment without the spring kinking and/or the follower jamming. The extension, however, increases the length of the follower considerably and reduces the capacity of the magazine. While a more reliable shotgun with one less shell is better than an unreliable shotgun with the full capacity, a more preferable solution would be a follower that increases reliability without adversely affecting capacity.
Thus, there are a number of problems with shotgun magazine followers that can be addressed.